A New Romanticism:: The Collected Poetry Volume One

By ANDREW CHAVEZ

Andrew Chavez provides a large representative sampling of the poetry that is part of his exploratory journey leading to the final development of his perspective called a new romanticism. Chavez turned to poetry because of intense revelatory experiences; those same revelations guide and direct his work. A reader is allowed an opportunity to follow the ups and downs, the misdirections, errors, and pitfalls that were part of the unique process of discovery. The poetry strives to be as direct, clear, and brief as possible. Chavez believes that a thinking mind with something to say has a natural melody to those expressions. The job of the poet is to say what needs to be said then stop. There is no law of poetry guiding length. A poem should be as long, or short, as necessary to say, tell, or show whatever needs to be said, told, or shown.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Oct 18, 2011
• ISBN: 9781463452575

ANDREW CHAVEZ

Andrew Chavez began his career with poetry because he started having intense revelatory experiences showing him a truth and beauty never seen or experienced before. Despite having no formal training with poetry, he had been a student of the social sciences, Chavez adopted the language of poetry to explore the nature of the revelations he was having while also allowing nature to teach him how to observe, what to observe, and how to express himself in a fitting manner. Revelations are always part of Chavez's world. What are they? Where do they come from? What are they all about? Chavez turned his back on the road leading to the title of professional or academic poet. He made his life's goal the discovery of how those intense revelations fit into the whole process of life and living. Rarely does a poet decide to put all else aside for the sake of truth and beauty. Chavez has done that and allows a reader to see what the whole journey is like. The author has been writing poetry for over thirty years. He has a Master's degree in English from Kansas State University and is the author of: A New Romanticism: Essays And Poems (2000), A New Romanticism: Updated And Revised (2006), Shanidar Cave (2008), A Modern Romantic Odyssey (2008), Three Verse Plays (2008), and The Expanded Version Of A New Romanticism (2008).

Book preview

a new romanticism

the collected poetry volume one

Andrew Chavez

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© 2011 by Andrew Chavez. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 10/12/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4634-5259-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4634-5258-2 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4634-5257-5 (ebk)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011914516

Printed in the United States of America

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Contents

PREFACE

J37

J38

J39

J40

J50

J51

J52

J53

J54

J55

J56

J57

J58

J59

J60

J61

J62

J63

J64

J65

J66

J67

J68

J69

J71

J72

APPENDIX

Dedicated To The Species-Endowed Divinities

That Are The Author Of These Poems

PREFACE

The poetry in this collection was written through the time period of 1980-2000. The year 1980 represents the time that I started writing poetry. I started writing poetry at the late age of about thirty. Before I started writing poetry my studies had been in the field of sociology but I was having a lot of personal and financial problems; I left school and went into the army in 1979. I was stationed in Neubrucke, in what was then West Germany. In Neubrucke, and in 1980, I started having intense revelations, moments of extraordinary clarity and insight that also came with a joyful sense of well-being. It was as I struggled to find a way of talking about revelatory experiences that poetry came to mind. I had no previous training or education in poetry. At the time, my mind was filled with traditional impressions of what poetry is all about, and as I considered my circumstances with those newly appearing revelations, I decided that verse offered a broader, fuller, and more spiritual language well suited to my new interest; thus, I adopted verse as the language I would use to describe, express, and otherwise explore what those revelations were all about.

Like for every novice poet, it took a while to work through the various skill-related problems that poetry presented as I continued to use it. The poetry in this collection has poetry from that developmental time period. Given the way that my interest was turned toward poetry; that is, by way of revelations, I also had to work through problems associated with using and coming to know revelations themselves. There was a great deal of confusion that resulted from my work with revelations; so much so, that I determined to keep my poetic language as simple, clear, and brief as possible. Later, as I developed a greater command of poetic expression, I broke away from those restrictions and sought a more fluid and melodious verse. Again, all of this can be seen in the early work that is part of this collection.

As I reviewed these poems after the passage of thirty years, I was often tempted to update and otherwise improve upon my early attempts to describe what revelations are all about but I resisted the temptation. The poetry stands on its own as expressed; I wanted to keep those early poems with their own level of understanding and expression intact. With that intent in mind, I improved those lines of verse that struck me as unnecessarily vague or simply poorly written. I did not want to extend the logic or otherwise use the knowledge gained by way of my continued work with what I call a new romanticism. There are many later poems in this collection that describe a new romanticism quite well. Again, with those later poems, too, I did not change much of the wording nor improve upon my expressions or descriptions of what revelations or a new romanticism is all about. I have many works that dwell on the matter of revelations and a new romanticism. I think the poetry in this collection gains from a certain naïve quality that comes from the poor and incomplete understanding that I had of revelations at the time. I wanted to keep all of that as found.

As I worked with this collection of poetry I was often struck with the similarity of reviewing the poems and looking at old photographs or listening to golden oldies. Each poem brought to mind the situation that gave birth to the poem and in that way I was able to recall many events in my life that would otherwise be forgotten. Of course, a reader will not have that advantage but poetry generally allows a person to pour his or her own experiences into a poem and thereby make the poem more personal.

The collection that I present here is the first of a dozen similar collections that together represent my whole life’s work. As I write, I have just completed a review of volume seven. I think I have written far too much poetry. It is no wonder that I am sometimes troubled over the issue of repeating myself too often, but then, I must assume that the problem will work itself out in one way or another. It is not unusual for a poet to express an idea and then develop it further through the years. It is that process of developing an idea further that creates the impression of repetition.

When I first started writing poetry I was forever distracted (despite also being guided and inspired) by what I called my familiar; that is, revelations. I had decided that the best writing style for me was to be as simple, clear, and brief as possible, but then, how do you remain simple, clear, and brief when that monster of power, truth, and beauty keeps coming around to make you stand awe-struck and straining to find the appropriate terms to express it? I was forever being overwhelmed, but then, I tried to keep things as simple as I could manage despite it all.

The poems in this collection represent the life of a guy who was trying to learn and improve upon his art while also earning a living by doing assorted jobs; mostly construction of one sort or another. As I continued my work with poetry, and continued being visited by my familiar, I spent more time wondering about the familiars themselves. What are they? Where do they come from? What are they all about? Answers to those questions became the foundation for a new romanticism, but then, a new romanticism was an idea that I had from the very start. I had the idea of a new romanticism from the very start because the first revelatory experience in Neubrucke, West Germany turned my life around. I was born again. I was not, and still am not, a religious person, and yet, I saw that life could be revived, refreshed, and started all over again because of natural attributes of mind that are designed for that very purpose; thus, a new chance at life was always the foundation for my understanding of what a new romanticism was all about. A new chance at life, love, and living became a fundamental fact that had to be incorporated somehow into our understanding both of life and the normal functioning of the human mind. I did not understand how all of it fit together. I simply knew it did. It took a very long time to finally understand how I could go about building a solid foundation for a new romanticism. That understanding did not come until the winter of 2005. Poems found in the second half of this collection come very close to putting all the pieces together, but then, these poems end in the year 2000. A good understanding of what revelations and a new romanticism were all about did not happen until 2005.

I recognize that a new romanticism is not a well-known idea. Again, many of the later poems in this collection will give a reader a very good idea of a new romanticism. It is about how the human body has natural attributes of mind that revive, refresh, and give life another chance despite current obstacles. For readers who want to see a more extended discussion of a new romanticism, I recommend my books: The Expanded Version Of A New Romanticism (2008), or, A New Romanticism: Updated And Revised (2006). These books are available online. I am still working with these ideas. As far as a new romanticism is concerned, these are still early days; things are often hectic, confusing, and not infrequently, a little crazy but what can I say? Sometimes things are just that way.

As I mentioned earlier, the idea of building upon what I call a new romanticism was present early in my career. In 1984 I put together a long poetic essay and prose essay discussing what a new romanticism meant to me at the time, but then, I recognized that the poetic essay and prose essay had a missing link. I did not know it at the time but the missing link was something that would firmly ground my ideas into the real world; an understanding that would make a new romanticism something other than high-flying or far-reaching expressions that did not know their own cause or roots. That understanding came in the winter of 2005. The understanding came in the same way that a prompt came years ago that made me a poet in 1980; again, the understanding in the winter of 2005 came by way of a series of revelations, Eureka moments, that finally put all the pieces together. It is because the idea of a new romanticism has been with me since I became a poet that I put all my poetry under that heading. The poetry in this collection was not written with a full understanding of what a new romanticism ultimately came to be. All I knew when I was working on these poems was that a person can come alive again after being like dead. Revelations, or what I was calling my familiar, would routinely visit and show me a world of truth and beauty that always left me spell-bound and in awe. What was that all about? I did not know. All I knew was that my old world was transformed into something new because of it; additional and ongoing revelations gave increased evidence and support for maintaining my belief and faith in them while strengthening my curiosity about the role they played in human life and where they came from; what they were all about.

What I learned in the winter of 2005 was that there are three natural attributes of mind that are part of what we call genius. Genius is not a singular thing. Genius is made up of native, creative, and symbolic genius. The revelations that showed me stunning glimpses of clarity, truth, and beauty; the same that made me feel at one with the world and wider cosmos, was native genius. Native genius gives meaning and purpose to life; it strengthens our will to survive by showing us awe-inspiring truth and beauty. We are overwhelmed. That is how we are born again. Creative genius is what is popularly known as the Eureka effect. Creative genius is a problem solver. That is all it does. It solves problems for us and provides an answer in what seems the most unlikely of times. That is why creative genius, or the Eureka effect, catches us by surprise. We may not even be thinking of our problem when the solution is offered from out of the blue. Symbolic genius is not problem-centered like creative genius nor does it have the overwhelming power and life-changing force of native genius; instead, symbolic genius brings things to mind that are useful or pleasing for us to know. Symbolic genius offers its insights and assistance as sounds, images, words, or any other medium that we are likely to understand and appreciate. These insights and various forms of assistance are not centered around a specific problem. They are more general. The helps they offer may be useful in our work or may simply be very pleasing to see and know. I think epiphanies are the work of symbolic genius.

Native, creative, and symbolic genius are natural attributes of mind; we all have them. They are part of what makes us human. We do not all have an opportunity to use those natural traits with problems that create new knowledge (our standard impression of genius) but we all use and recognize those attributes of mind as we go through our daily lives.

It is my contention that ancient prophets experienced their own native genius and called it God. This is why I can say that we lack nothing that was part of the ancient world; it is also why I say that God, and the gods, have not left us bereft and alone. He, and they, are with us today just as they appeared to those who lived in ancient times. This is true because God and the gods are natural attributes of mind that a new romanticism describes as native, creative, and symbolic genius. Moderns have all that nature intends for us to have in the way of truth and beauty; glory, splendor, and radiance; magic, mystery, and miracle. We lack nothing; thus, God is not quite as dead as Nietzsche pronounced him or as many secularists and atheists would have him. God is alive and well; doing what is always done by our natural divines: native, creative, and symbolic genius.

Very little of what I have been talking about here was understood as the poetry in, The Collected Poetry, Volume One, was written. I do not see that lack of knowledge as a flaw. I think it adds to the charm of the poetry because you have a poet living the life of someone who fell in love at first sight (revelations and/or expressions of his own native genius.) He did not know his beloved well, at least, not in the philosophic or scientific sense, but he was madly in love nevertheless. One must bear in mind that the poetry in this collection was written during the passage of many years. There are ups and downs; times when the lover was ready to give the whole thing up and times when he was riding a special high; was determined to see the whole thing through no matter what. That is pretty much the guy who wrote the poems found in Volume One. It was all a maddening, insane, and wonderful love affair. All the while that the poet was trying to come to terms with his beloved, he was also trying to master his art while also doing assorted jobs. What can I say? It is a life. We often marvel over what a life is and what it contains, well, here is a glimpse into that thing that we often marvel about.

A new romanticism is a work in progress. I have more poetry to offer with my additional collected works; I have also published books that are currently available. The ideas involved are not difficult to grasp. A person need only be familiar with his or her own mind; the way that it functions, the things it does, and what is offered to the individual from that source. From there, and with that, a person is readily on his or her own and does not need me despite my continued labors in this area.

My poetic writing style is nothing special; indeed, I turn my back on the modern dictum of, make it new! I want to make things old and older; I want the most ancient of all and so my poetic writing is meant to reflect the old style; the style belonging to someone with something to say and someone who wants to be understood; thus, simple, clear, and as brief as possible. This does not limit the length of a poem. The Iliad is simple, clear, and brief as possible but is still a somewhat lengthy tale. Length is determined by what is being said or done. A fine epic tale can be hundreds of pages long and be a good poem, or, a poem can be but a few words. A good poem does what is appropriate and necessary for it. So long as the poem remains entertaining and informative then the poem is doing what it has to do.

The J designation used as section headings in this collection of poetry refer to specific journals i.e. The Early Poems J27-J36. I write all my poetry in journals; then, at some later date, I select poems from my journals that I am willing to work with further. The J designations are not important save as a personal reminder about where a poem occurs in my journals. I could drop the J designation all together and nothing would be lost. That I use them here is more the result of habit and a personal quirk.

The Early Poems J27-J36

THE TURTLE

The turtle has a protective shell

Where it can recede

Into a self-enforced darkness.

There he can contemplate or frustrate

Himself to whatever extent he pleases.

How blinding bright

The sun must seem

After sessions of extended night;

How green the grass

And blue the sky.

The turtle, given to slow motion,

Can spend more time with less

And still gain more than most

Despite its ponderous plodding.

IF MAGIC COULD FLOW

If magic could flow through this pen

Then I would draw myself beside you

And give that semblance eyes,

Lips, hands, arms, legs, torso,

And all those other parts of a person;

That done, then the whole day long

I could walk, talk, and stay with you

As you go about your business.

But then, I think again thinking

Maybe this pen does have magic.

Maybe I am with you now

And will be even when it seems

That either of us or both are leaving

This scene where we both enact

The story that bears repeating.

SOMETIMES ALL WE CAN DO

Sometimes all we can do

Is hold on dearly to one another:

When all our beliefs are seemingly gone,

We loneliest of the lonely;

When all our ideas mock us;

Laugh in devilish derision,

We loneliest of the lonely.

We fearful ones.

We tearful ones.

We children afraid of the night.

We singular entities aware,

Aware of a truth sometimes too much

To ever face alone.

Sometimes all we can do

Is hold on dearly to one another.

ON SONGS AND SINGING

The winds they have their songs

Sung from the lips of leaves;

The rivers have their songs

Splashed on their banks to please.

The clouds they have their songs

That form from the ocean’s sighing;

The sun creates the motive here

No longer the truth denying.

The mountains sing their songs

From a chorus majestic looming;

The valleys sing along

As they join with eager crooning.

Even the ocean has a song

That pours on the sandy shores

And so it is the earth can sing

Yet still we have some more.

Our hearts they have their songs

Strummed on the strings of feelings;

Our minds they play along

As a vision is sung revealing.

Our spirits, too, a song can sing

As they lift to sing transcending

And these together with one voice

To you and I are lending.

IT’S NOT MYSELF I SING

It’s not myself I sing.

When I myself become a subject

My song becomes a discordant wave

Bouncing off unfriendly walls

Echoing back their mockery.

It’s not myself I sing.

When I alone upon myself sing

I lose my voice

And when I open my mouth

My tongue falls like dead.

All I can do is gawk open-mouthed,

Surprised, and pointless

Into the staid and wondering air.

It’s not myself I sing.

When I my own petty self sing

My heart loses all its strength;

I get bored;

My mind wanders off to places

Seeming somehow more friendly.

It’s not myself I sing.

When I croon my own self concerns

There is nothing offered as a topic

But wanting, needing, seeking,

Dreaming, wishing, searching;

All subjects signaling not having

The thing that is desired.

It’s not myself I sing.

When I forgetfully sing selfishly

I can see nothing but emptiness,

Closed doors, harsh shadows,

And all that limits the gift of sight.

It is when you